Photo from InterAksyon.com by Brandy Roa Solayao
As of today, the last day of 2014, rescuers and retrieval personnel of the Catbalogan City government are still searching for the missing victims of the landslide in Burak, Brgy. Mercedes, Catbalaogan, Samar. Fifteen people are reported dead, three of whom were small children–the youngest was 3 years old. It has been raining non-stop for two days as Typhoon ‘Seniang’ swept from Northeast Mindanao to Eastern Visayas. The typhoon dumped huge amounts of rainfall, causing massive flooding in its wake. Misamis Oriental has declared a state of calamity. In Leyte near the town of Carigara, a bridge gave way to the rushing river that has overflowed, cutting off several towns from Tacloban City.
In short, I am not in a celebratory mood.
The kids and I had been here in Catbalogan since December 23 to celebrate the holidays. So far none of our plans pushed through due to bad weather. To make matters worse, my kids and I were down with a nasty bug, triggering really bad asthma attacks. Trips to the beach and other jaunts would have to wait until our next visit.
This year has been tumultuous for me personally, bringing me highs and really deep lows. I changed jobs but before that, I succumbed to the burnout that has affected many of my colleagues in the online news business. One such colleague-friend left her editing post almost at the same time as I did. She told me the high stress level she had been enduring for the past three years has induced neurological ailments in her. “It’s not worth it in the end,” she told me, “at the expense of my health.” She quit her online news job and now she’s a correspondent for an overseas publication and she says she still has her internal targets but she’s doing her job in her own pace.
I can say the same thing for me. I do my job at my own pace and I choose the coverage I have to go to, depending on what my priorities for the month are. I set my internal targets and I am now developing my own system since I am working alone.
Do I miss the fast-paced newsroom/news cycle? So far not yet. Do I miss reporting things that matter? Sometimes but when I see my colleagues rushing past me due to hectic deadlines, I am thankful that I don’t have to deal with that anymore. Although my news cycle is slower, I have different demands and different challenges that I have to deal with. One of them is to be verrrrrry ahead of everyone else. That’s really tough but somehow manageable.
Still winging it, being a working mom. This year we sent the twins to school so at least somehow their boredom at home lessened a little bit. Sometimes I marvel at how quick their minds work. They’re an active lot.
Thankful for the opportunities and experiences learned this past year. Here’s to 2015!